CS Executive Entrance Test is the initial inceptive stage for becoming a qualified CS and a candidate must have a Secondary School Certificate ie he must be a Class X pass, as this is the minimum eligibility criteria that should be mandatorily fulfilled for provisional registration with the ICSI, albeit such a candidate can only appear for the CS Executive Entrance Test post completion of his 12th grade studies, ie after clearing the Higher Secondary Certificate exams.

In accordance with the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Regulations, 2020, CSEET has replaced the erstwhile CA Foundation Exam with effect from 3rd February,2020 and it is mandatory for all students to qualify the CS Executive Entrance Test so as to be eligible for the CS Executive Programme. The CSEET has been primarily enforced to test the aptitude and calibre of students who wish to embark on their eclectic CS journey. It is even imperative for all Graduates/ Post Graduates who shall firstly have to clear the CSEET, post which they would be qualify to apply for the CS Executive Course.

A student who has however passed either of the below mentioned exams, shall be exempted from CSEET and he would be directly eligible for enrolling himself in CS Executive. The following are those exams

• CS Foundation Programme
  
• Final Course of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
  
• Final Course of The Institute of Cost Accountants of India

CS Executive Entrance Test (CSEET) would be a two hours ie 120minutes Computer Based Objective Type/ Multiple Choice Test, that would be divided into two parts ie Part A and Part B wherein Part A would comprise of the following four sections -

• Business Communication
• Legal Aptitude & Logical Reasoning
• Economic and Business Environment
• Current Affairs

The marking scheme for each of these four subjects has been elucidated below -

• Business Communication would comprise of 35questions in all wherein there would be 15 two marker MCQ's and 20 MCQ's of one mark each, thereby having 50 as the maximum marks.
• Legal Aptitude & Logical Reasoning would again comprise of 35questions with 15objective type questions of two marks each and 20 questions of one mark each, making the total aggregate of 50marks.
• Economic and Business Environment would also follow the aforementioned pattern
• Current Affairs would have a weightage of 20marks with 5MCQs of two marks each and 10MCQs of one mark

The aforementioned exam pattern would however add up to 170 marks and hence the remaining 30marks have been allotted to Section B of the CSEET exam that would be a Viva Voice of around 15 minutes on "Presentation and Communication Skills".

It is pertinent to mention that there would be no negative marking in the CSEET exam, that would be held on quarterly basis as per the below mentioned schedule -

• In case a student registers himself for CSEET anytime between 16th December to 15th April, he shall be eligible to appear for the exam by May, in the same year.
  
• In case a student registers himself for CSEET anytime between 16th April to 15th June, he shall be eligible to appear for the exam by July, in the same year.
  
• In case a student registers himself for CSEET anytime between 16th June to 15th October, he shall be eligible to appear for the exam by November, in the same year.
  
• In case a student registers himself for CSEET anytime between 16th October to 15th December, he shall be eligible to appear for the exam by January, in the next year.
  
• The Registration Fees for appearing in CSEET is Rs1000 per student, per attempt but there are also several concessions offered to different categories of students.

A candidate should however have passed the Senior Secondary Examination ie 10+2 from any national or state recognized Board of Secondary Education in India or its equivalent thereto for being eligible to appear for the CSEET exam.

Also the list of documents that a student requires for successfully registering himself for the CSEET are mentioned as follows -

• Photograph of the candidate (size 20kb to 50kb)
  
• Signature of the candidate (size 10kb to 20kb)
  
• DOB Certificate wherein a candidate must furnish his Class X Marksheet that should be issued by a recognized National/ State Board of Secondary Education in India.
  
• Class XII Admit Card (in case appearing)/ Marksheet that should be issued by a recognized National/ State Board of Secondary Education in India.
  
• Certificate to be provided by all students, in case they belong to a special category ie SC/ST/OBC or differently-abled etc. for availing fee concession.
  
• Identity proof (Aadhar card/passport/voter ID /pan card/driving license/ration card)

All the aforementioned documents that are to be uploaded for registering for CSEET should be in one of the formats viz. jpg, jpeg, png, gif, bmp, pdf and the maximum allowed file size is 2 MB.
A candidates shall be declared as pass in CSEET in case he secures 40% marks in each paper and an overall 50% marks as the aggregate.
The syllabus for CSEET is succinctly delineated below.
•Business Communication is Paper 1 of Section A in CSEET exam and as the name of the subject suggests, the objective of this paper is to fathom the eloquence and knowledge of candidates with regards to the eclectic and limitless English Grammar, that is accompanied with interesting aspects of Business Communication.
The topics covered in this subject are as follows -
1. Essentials Of Good English
2. Communication
3. Business Correspondence
4. Common Business Technologies
•Legal Aptitude and Logical Reasoning is Paper 2 of Section A in the CSEET exam and the paper carries equal weightage of 25 marks each for both Legal Aptitude and Logical Reasoning.
The aim of this paper is to impart the basic legal knowledge to a CS candidate, along with ameliorating his logical reasoning skills.
The topics covered in this subject are as follows -
Part A - Legal Aptitude (25 Marks)
1. Indian Constitution
2. Elements of General Laws (Indian Contract Act and Law of Torts)
3. Elements of Company Secretaries Legislation
4. Elements of Company Law
5. Legal Reasoning
Part B - Logical Reasoning (25 Marks)
6. Logical Reasoning
7. Verbal Reasoning
8. Non Verbal Reasoning
•Economic & Business Environment is Paper 3 of the CSEET exam and the paper carries equal weightage of 25 marks each for both Economics and Business Environment.
The objective of this paper is to comprehend the labyrinth concepts of Micro and Macro Economics, with special emphasis on the Indian economic system, along with developing a lucid understanding of the integral elements in a business environment.
The topics covered in this subject are as follows -
Part A - Economics (25 Marks)
1. Basics of Demand and Supply and Forms of Market Competition
2. National Income Accounting and Related Concepts
3. Indian Union Budget
4. Indian Financial Markets
5. Indian Economy
Part B - Business Environment (25 Marks)
6. Entrepreneurship Scenario
7. Business Environment
8. Key Government Institutions
•Current Affairs, Presentation and Communication Skills (Viva Voice) would be a part of Paper 4 of CSEET and would carry a total weightage of 50marks wherein Current Affairs would be for 20marks and Presentation & Communication Skills (Viva Voice) would carry 30marks.
The paramount purpose of Paper 4 would be to assess the awareness of students with reference to the current affairs of both national and international importance. Also the Communication Skills and Presentation paper would test how articulate and eloquent a ca candidate is, in both his listening and writing skills.
While there are no specific topics in Paper 4 of CSEET, but however current affairs of national and international importance can be regarding -
• International bodies (ASEAN, BRICS, SAARC, G-20, BIMSTEC, etc.)
• Organizations such as the RBI, NABARD, CCI, IBBI, IMF, OECD, ADB, World Bank, etc.
• Summits and Conferences
• Current development in Banking and Finance (digital banking, govt. initiatives, financial inclusion, etc.)
• Current development in stock markets
• Recent important judgments passed by Supreme Court and High Courts of India, Tribunals
• Current updates on environment, biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development etc.
In Part B ie Presentation & Communication Skills that would carry a whopping 30marks, there would be listening skills that might include questions based on audio scripts which includes a monologue/ dialogue. It would also comprise of grammar test and vocabulary test.
This would be then followed by Written Communication Skills wherein there would be Essay Writing, Précis Writing, Editing etc. and lastly the candidates are expected to exude their oral communication skills wherein they must answer a question/ speak on a given topic/ explain certain term, post which his exam shall conclude and he can expect the result within the next one to two weeks.
Also most importantly, the study material for CSEET is available in the form of Mock tests, printed information and video lectures on the official website of ICSI, for all the students to access.